And They Lived Happily Ever After
by ashangel101010
Summary: For Darth Videtur. On the eve of Life Day, Emperor Palpatine and his Imperial Consort spend time with their grandson.


And They Lived Happily Ever After

* * *

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Night Comes On by Leonard Cohen

* * *

Sate Palpatine is pinned in place, at the very edge of the kriin-wood bed, by a paradoxical weight. Light as a starbird's feather, yet as imposing as the _Executor_ , his soulmate's head lays upon his naked chest. There's no escape from the triple-layer of crimson sheets wrapped around them tighter than a noose.

And for fifty-four years, he never once dreamt of escape.

And he hopes for another fifty-four, but he knows he won't see those fifty-four years. At least not in this vessel…

His Emperor, his husband, blinks up at him like a serpent waking from its long slumber in the court gardens.

"Good morning." He whispers; sometimes, he can convince his husband to lie here another hour together. Perhaps more.

"Armitage is here." Sate sits up quickly and sees their newly-five-year-old grandson curled up on a crimson, gort-feathered stuffed pillow on the other side of the emperor-size bed. He's wrapped up by a white therma-blanket with black stars. He looks down to see his husband's frown.

"I'm sure Brendol doesn't mean to offend you." He repeats, not coherently knowing if it was true.

"A blanket, a blanket that would be a clone trooper's issue if not for the garish design!" No red suffuses his husband's pale cheeks like whenever Rama gets upset. His golden eyes flash like lightning.

"There's probably a story behind it; perhaps, related to the Sith in the Unknown Regions." The golden fury abates. For now.

"I doubt it. If Rama and Armitage weren't so fond of that _man_ …" His husband's thin lips pull into a sneer; Sate gives him a lingering kiss on his husband's imperfect, bed-head.

"How about some sparring to work out your frustrations, my Naboo?" Sate offers like a glass of blossom wine, and his husband mulls over it for a moment with pursed lips.

"In five minutes." Those golden eyes rest upon Armitage's drooling face, and Sate's dark eyes join him.

* * *

"Armitage, bend your knees."

"Like a dragon about to jump!"

"….Yes, now raise your arms and bend your elbows."

"Like a dragon about to fly!"

"…Yes." Sate muffles back a chuckle at his husband's visible exasperation with their grandson's latest obsession with dragons.

 _It's all that man's fault!_ Sate snorts at his husband's projected thought, which causes their grandson to blink at him with his owlish green eyes.

"Grandpa? What's so funny?"

"Oh, um, I'm just reminded of when you're father was learning this kata for the first time." He lies. Their grandson smiles with pure trust, while his husband wrinkles his long, majestic, nose in dismay.

"Was he slow at it like me?"

 _Of course not; he's a born prodigy just like his father. Took him less than two minutes to figure it out, and we've been here for two hours._

"Er, no, but he thought of the kata like a dragon." Armitage beams, while his husband rolls his eyes at his paltry fibbing and at Armitage's gullibility.

"I want to be a dragon!" Armitage exclaims like he's on a sugar rush, while his husband furrows his brows.

"Then, don't drop out of your stance." His husband chides gently, and Armitage nods his head furiously before resuming the position. Perfectly.

"Why a dragon?" Sate half-asks and half-teases, but Armitage only picks up on the former.

"Because I'll have wings, and can fly, and then Kylo can ride me!" Sate sees his husband gritting his teeth and swallowing back his hisses at their grandson's innocent double entendre.

 _If Kinman was still here, he would be so proud!_

* * *

After a breakfast of nuna eggs and meat pies, they slip out of their breakfast robes for their opera ones. Sate wears royal purple robes with the same headscarves he wore for his wedding. His husband's white robes drape across his lithe frame like his Imperial cloaks, but unlike his cloaks, his are trimmed with gold and show off his physique. Armitage is wearing scarlet robes with House Palpatine's crest sewn on the back, while the breast pocket sports the Imperial moniker.

Sate leans against the doorframe of their bedroom, watching his husband fiddling with Armitage's purple sash.

"Uncle Den told me that Warlord Nihl gifted it to me." Armitage furrows his ginger brows in confusion. "Even though we've never met…"

"He may wish to curry your favor." Palpatine suggests with a purr that threatens to curdle if Armitage proves to be dense like his other father.

"I don't think so." Armitage purses his lips like a Palpatine. "I bet it has to do with the Force!"

"Partially." He awards their grandson with a cryptic smile.

The trio depart for the Galaxies Opera House where hundreds of thousands of Coruscant's most elite families gathered. They're here to show the Emperor and his Imperial Consort how their children deserve the glory to be part of the Imperial Family.

Sate sees that the youngest scion of the Motti family about to interact with Armitage, but then he's stopped by a member of the second most powerful family in the Empire.

"Kylo!" Armitage's face lights up as brightly as the opera house's dozens of chandeliers when he spots his best friend.

Kylo Amidala Skywalker is dressed in black robes with a black cape, made infamous by his grandfather, and a traditional Naboo ruff. The crowd step aside to let Vader's grandson through. Kylo ignores the poisonous glare that the youngest Motti sends his way as anyone with his royal pedigree would.

"Armitage, you look quite entrancing this morning." Sate nearly flinches at the word choice, while his husband tactically shows none of his disgust at the juvenile flirting.

"Ah, thank you, Kylo, you look…" Armitage pauses like he's trying to solve a difficult puzzle. "Gallant!"

Kylo flashes a dashing smile like a chivalrous knight to a princess he just rescued from a dragon.

"So are you seeing _The White Slippers_ with your mum?"

"Not this year. Mother had some last minute… _headaches_. Grandfather is here in her place." Armitage nods empathetically; Rama has to finish _negotiating_ with the Yuuzhan Vong diaspora on Zonama Sekot. Brendol is also there for spousal support and to see how weapons are forged there. They will be back in the late afternoon to pick up Armitage.

"I'll see ya at the Life Day party!" Armitage whispers into Kylo's ear as he hugs him; Kylo hugs him back and gives a rather neutral smile to the Emperor and His Imperial Consort.

 _I get this feeling they won't wait until twenty-four to get married._ Sate glances over and sees the grimace set on his husband's exquisite, pale lips, silently, dreadfully agreeing with him.

Kylo gives a conciliatory nod before making his way back to his family's box. Armitage practically skipping with joy as the Imperial Family adjourn to their box.

Sate has always found _The White Slippers_ overly saccharine. The opera itself is about a virginal girl given white slippers by her wizard godfather, but they get scuffed up by her bratty (and usually red-headed in the human productions) little brother. She cries about it, the wizard godfather uses his magic to transport her to a magical land to fix the shoes, she makes friends with animal-humanoids along the way, defeat an evil witch, and is rewarded with her slippers restored.

However, this season's production is far bloodier and darker than previous seasons; Sate watches his husband grins for half the opera, but then would sneer whenever he glance over at the Amidala Skywalker box and see Kylo staring at Armitage.

It is during those times that Sate does the only he can do; hold his true love's hand in the dark and squeeze reassuringly.

* * *

In the middle of the night, Sate watches his husband through his half-moon readers, having long ago given up reading his datapad that their son spent months collating. His husband, on the other hand, has no plans on putting down the datapad; his academia blood won't allow it.

"Merry Life Day." His husband looks at the chrono on the black marble nightstand.

"So it is." He returns to his reading like the persistent scholar that he is. "I just need to finish this section on the Yuuzhan Vong caste system. It's quite similar to the one that the Jedi had."

"Okay, my Naboo." He goes to plant a kiss on his forehead, but his husband has a surprise for him. His husband turns his head and kisses him.

"You've been so patient today. And is Life Day."

"So it is."

And he kisses back.

* * *

 **Author's Comments-** Here are the links:

This song is not terribly romantic or operatic, but I think this is Palpatine's and Sate's song as happily married, old men: a href=" watch?v=n7QFsV65D-I"Link/a

I know this isn't a good image, but the Palpatine behind Ezra is how he looks in this AU because he got to keep his sexy face; Sate is forever grateful for that: a href=" . "Link/a

It's safe to presume that Sate gets laid off-screen because I just couldn't bring myself to write it with young Armitage in the story.

I tried my best to figure out how long Sate and Palpatine are married in this story since in this AU they married literally hours after Plagueis's murder because what better way to stick it to that lecher than by the newly minted Sith Master marrying his one true love after years of hiding their romance from everyone, and of course Sate becomes a Palpatine because he has like 200 other relatives to keep the Pestage name alive. Also to note in this AU, Sate became a quasi-step-father to Maul when he and Palpatine became serious about each other, and with that, he checked out the Theed Reactor again, found Maul, and got him serious medical help and top-of-the-line prosthetics. Palpatine has thrown out the rule of two in regards to Maul and Anakin/Vader, so bad news for Dooku. Also, bad news for the Jedi because Palpatine and Anakin get to keep their sexy faces and limbs.

There's actually a lot more to this AU's lore, but I don't want give myself ideas about creating another series when I have at least four series that are nowhere close to being finished.


End file.
